Morning journal and courier., 1887-05-23
TRINITY ME. CHURCH.

A4@ANAA A HAs AS' O1A O 1hOnS ssUnhappy Homes; or the Feliefties
 And 1nfeliciGies of Domestic Life"-
 Second Sermon fn the Series on
 SHOme Lffe'' by Rev. Dr. Reed.
 Trinity NJ. E. church was again crowded last evening on the occasion of the second sermon in the series on "Home and Home Life'' by Rev. Dr. Reed The text was from Ephesians, fifth chapter, 22-25 and 33d verses. The remarks of Dr. Reed were in substance as follows:
 In the first sermon of our series on "The Family and Family Life," delivered in this place Lords day evening last, we endeavored to make clear and establish on the authority of the scriptures the following propositions:
 1. That marriage as an institution is the foundation and guarantee of the home.
 3. That as such marriage is of divine or dering and sanction--an ordinance older than all human institutions and like the Sabbath, with which it is coeval, neither to be abridged nor abrogated as to it's authority and significance by any laws which men in future ages might seek to establish.
 3. That as a divine institution God de- signed that it should be homogeneous, op- posed alike to polygamy on the one hand and to either celibacy or divorce on the other, save TOT the aIl-Fumclent and permitted cause of marital incontinenee.
 4. That as divine institution the sole basis on which true marriage can really exist is that of pure unmixed affection-afection so single as to it's object, so true in it's fidelity that not even in thought can it permit the in- tervention of third party, nor tolerate the presence even of rival within the charmed circle of it's influence.
 Finally, That whenever and wherever par ties propose to enter this holy estate they should do it "reverently, discreetly, and in the fear of God" To night, continued the speaker, we come to the consideration of the benefits and obligations of the married estate; the principles in the observation of which happy home life can be secured, to- gether with brief review of the causes of the infelicities and divisions existing in homes where naught but love and harmony should prevail.
 Here MT Reed disclaimed any knowledge of troubles existing in any of the homes of his own pRrishioners and asserted that the arrows were to be shot only at a venture, so that if any should be hit it would only be because an unseen hand directed the arrow in it's flight. Then, having given exposition of the texts selected and read, the speaker proceeded to set forth the picture of an ideal home, making reference to Xenophons beau tiful description of the joy of the remnant of the ten thousand on beholding from the sum- mlE or SaCTGo nOuQIa1u the sea WaOSo waters in the distance laved the shore of their native land.
 There was home !! Why wonder that they rejoiced. Why wonder that in an instant all perils were forgotten. Such magical spell was there even in that disturbed and barbar- ous age in the name and thought of home.
 For what is home Is it not the sun which lights up this lower world? Is it not the charmed circle consecrated by the pres ence of husband, adorned by the taste and skill of wife, sancti6ed by the gentle min istrations of 8 mother and filled with the prattle and laughter of children? Is it not the sanctuary within whose holy precincts wearied men come for rest, for immunity from ife's ills. Is it not that without which the sanctities and even the decencies of life could not for an hour exist?
 Such surely is the home-the ideal home at Ieast-the home for whose conservation men in all ages have put forth their mighti- est exertions and for which they toll and suf- fer as they do for nothing else.
 It is the home that builds your mills, es- tablishes your manufactories, drives your merchant ships, propels your engines, fills the avenues of trade. Back of all motive forces of steam or electricity or mechanical power is that which is mightier than alI-the love of home.
 That such an asylum, such sanctuary, such a refuge, such a kingdom of power
 
 that after that he had made man he said: ''It is not good for the man to be alone;" that he who at the beginning made them male and female said: "For this cause shall the man leave father and mother, and shall cleave unto the wife, and they twain shall be one fesh'; that he caused to be written that tremendous sentence, a sentence that ought to flash in characters of flame, not only above the DOT tals of every divorce court in the land, but also before the eyes of every man seeking by the easy processes of unrighteous, God defy ing laws to abrogate or nullify the eternal law of the living God, "What God hath joined together let no man put asunder:"
 MT. Reed next proceeded to speak of the many homes where this ideal home is never realized; where there all bfckerings, jeal- eusies; where, in short, home means little else than hell.
 A condition of things wherein the "ins," meaning the married, only seek to go cut, and the "outs" seem to manifest an ever in creasing reluctance to get in.
 If men and women would live happily in the married estate there must be due regard to these laws, in the observance of which alone marital happiness can be made to sub sist. What are these?
 1. The law of mutual affection. Home is master of the heart, and without love 1t cannot exist.
 g. The law of mutual forbearance. Mar riage is based in mutual concessions. The man or woman who cannot yield compro- mise, or forbear, had better keep out of the marital relation. If all women were angels some other modus vivendi might avail, but, said the speaker, unfortunately all men, and some women, are not angels, at least not save in the earlier stages of romantic court ship. The intimacies, cares and anxieties of married life must convince the most senti mental that men are but men, and women but women, and sometimes weak and foolish ones at that. Hence the need of concession, of forbearance.
 3. The law of social intercourse must be observed. Man should finger long by the ireside. Neither club life, nor saloons nor politics, nor social joys with others should have power to draw him from his home. People often See too little of each other. Sometimes they see too much
 Some know other people better than they know the members of their own families. The husband must not be a churl at home and the delightful companion abroad.
 A. The law of mutual confidence. Some men never confide in their wives, never trust, never inform them of their pleasures, their business, their investments, nor their fnan- ,ial conditions state of things outko which no good can possibly come.
 5. The law of equality with respect to original endowments and after development.
 Some people marry who never should, who, if they do, must forever remain ''un- squally yoked together"
 Some who at the start stand on plane of equality do not remain so; one pulls ahead of the other, until at last chasm seems to separate them. Companionship is over, and with the loss of that comes the temptation to which so many yield to seek it in another quarter Result, divorce.
 Last, the recognition of the value of the work done by the woman, no less than the nan, in the building up of the home.
 Above all, make the home a Christian nome, sanctifed by praise and prayer. Then will it live in memory.
 Years may pass, households be scattered, put in the end, when father is gone, mother departed, the homestead sold, the picture on wall which can never be obliterat- ed, which can never be destroyed, which must forever remain brightest of all, which will melt the heart and touch the deepest ,hords, will be the picture of the happy 1 nome of childhood years, causing whoever | ooks upon it to say: 70, God of my father, 5od of my mother, be thou to me what | hou vast to them, guide me as thou didst l ,uide them let their faith be my faith, their l lope my hope, that to me as to them, at | ast, there may be ministered an abundant | into the everlasting kingdom of our | Lord and Savior Jesus Christ"